Claim to Fame

Sheriff of Dallas, known generally as fair and reasonable, but hard. Will enforces the few vampire laws that there are with unswerving devotion.

Biography

Valentinus des Barres was born in 1170 AD, to a family with a long and noble history of service in the name of God. Knighted age 17 into The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, better known as the Knights Templar, he was present during the 3rd Crusade. Surviving it, he returned to England as a hero of the order, only too soon to fall to sin with a seductress he knew as Ysolde. Within a year he had fully fallen from grace, turned by Ysolde into a creature of the night. His name was struck from the Templar records for breaking his oath of chastity and abandoning the Order, and he faded away into nothingess at his creator's estates.

With Ysolde he spent the next few centuries, going from debauchery to vampire politics with his love and partner. They became potent and powerful within English vampire circles, politically neutral and never utilising the favours they were owed by so many people.

Ysolde had long since fallen in love with him, but her original purpose of twisting a holy knight into something dark was always kept a secret from her love. However, when the pair finally decided to make their political move, a cunning trick by a foeman led to Valentinus finding out the truth. In a feral rage he destroyed his true love, the messenger, the foeman and many others around him.

By this time, colonists were present in the New World, and Valentinus , now taking the name William Grant, fled to America with his most trusted servants. With his money and resources he appropriated tracts of land in Iowa, and his loyal followers created a dynasty of farming folk. William largely retreated from the outside world for a long time, only brought forth to ensure the safety of his family-by-proxy during the revolutionary war.

When the Civil War came around, William had resolved to never again let his family die needlessly, and made night-time sorties to protect them as best he could. During this time he ran into the first other vampires he had come across in America, and realised that their parasitic lifestyle could and would eventually lead to an uprising against them. His vigor for life renewed, he started travelling around, starting negotiations with various vampires about how best to ensure that his kind survived, and that their prey was not too damaged. Even then he refused to feed from an unwilling individual. Not all vampires were interested in opening communication, and Will was forced to fight for his life on more than one occasion.

He didn't settle in one place until it became evident that population had reached a point where he would be unable to continue his work as it was. Instead, he settled a home base in Dallas, allowing his family dynasty to continue on their own, asking only for a large yearly stipend, readily agreed to. With the advent of easy communication, Will's job became both easier and harder. Easier to communicate and ensure good relations between different groups of vampires, and harder to keep the knowledge of them away from prying mortal eyes.

He struggled to maintain any agreement between different groups of vampires, mostly because they were settled so thoroughly into their own realms, their own affairs. In the 60s, he gave up trying to form a cohesive series of rules for vampires to follow across the country, and petitioned to become Sheriff of Dallas, granted by King Kegan.

Since then he has rigidly maintained a hold of the laws of Kegan over vampire kind in the area. A vehement opponent of the Great Revelation, he has adapted nonetheless, allowing public vampire bars and the like to spring up, on the agreement that they do nothing illegal, and ensure that a steady flow of information comes his way. He also requires of them that they keep a space aside for him should he ever wish to attend. His network of informants is not small.

He is known as a good negotiator, able to compromise on anything except the laws. He is also known as an implacable foe, and possessing of a dark sense of humour.

Character Details

The confliction between his nature and his faith in God is difficult for Will, though it is rarely evident. His long and conflict-ridden life has left him almost unflappable; cool, calm and charming in almost every situation since if he hasn't seen it before, he's probably seen similar. He is no stranger to death, no stranger to blood and murder and destruction, though prefers amiable solutions to conflict. He knows he is capable of atrocities, and fights to avoid them at all costs.

He still attempts to live by as much of his Templar code as he is able, clinging to the humanity it gives as a conscious effort to avoid the debauchery and glorious bloodbaths that he knows he is fully capable of. He maintains a rigid devotion to the laws of vampiric kind. Mortal law is also important to him, as he sees it as the thin line that stands between the general populace and anarchy.

He regards violence as a necessary evil, to be approached clinicly and without emotion. In the extremely rare case of him being roused to anger, he is terrible and ruthless, destroying without mercy anything that stands in his way. When emotionally charged, he will often slip towards archaic speech, even latin.

When it comes to vampirism at large, he is a traditionalist who views being a vampire as a burden and an obligation to do the greatest good in the world that you are able. He does not suffer those who waste their lives.

Fluent in English, Latin, French and Spanish. Deadly fighter with a blade, fairly good shot with a gun. Skilled researcher, manipulator and negotiator. Competent technologist. Possessor of a competent and wide range of informants.

Preternatural speed

Will came late to understanding that vampires can fly. Thus, he has never learnt, a rarity amongst those of his age and occasionally applied as a social stigma to him. Instead, he learnt the old-fashioned way to run at high speed. He is faster and able to run at speeds beyond that of vampires even older than him, normally able to keep up with the flyers, at least in open country.

Receptive telepathy

Will has the psychic ability to read minds at a touch. Normally a touch through clothing is enough, though skin to skin contact increases the potency. He receives flashes of images as his mind drives through the subconscious of the victim, as he draws forth both important memories of the person's past and a brief but emphatic rundown of their activities for the past week or so. Unused to being used against those of especially strong will (i.e. psychics), with sufficient effort he is able to knock down strong mental barriers. He is not able to switch it off, so Will generally avoids touching mortals as habit in an attempt to retain his sanity.

Blood telepathy

When a mortal has drunk of Will's blood, in addition to the usual feelings of when the human is in danger, Will is able to project thoughts into the mortal's mind from a distance, though only when they are within a few miles.

Glamour expert

Through the practise of centuries, Will has grown accustomed to using glamour for delicate operation. He is able to glamour someone with greater finesse than most vampires, erasing memories and applying instructions that make sense even to the person's closest friends. This is achievable mostly through his touch - a greater understanding leads to greater control.

Distrust of a pretty face, powerful women in general. Too stoic - apt to fall to debauchery and punish himself for it at great length. Little empathy with others.

Gold allergy

As vampires are affected by silver, so Will is also by gold, a cruel irony in his belief deposited upon him by a vengeful God. Though it does not immobilize him, the delicate hiss and rising stench of burning flesh is often a downer to social occasions.

Bloodthirst

Most vampires need less blood to survive as they age. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Will. He drinks as much as he did throughout the ages, knowing that to deny his urge is to embrace his inner beast. His thirst is literally insatiable.